I feeeel good!

Like Mister Dynamite himself.. I feeeeel good!

.. and why shouldn't I!

The weather's warming up; it's a balmy - 15C outside right now. A few more degrees and I can run outside in shorts! =p

2 more finals and a wake up and this semester is done!

Massage Therapy school is fantastic and I'm loving every minute of it but it's been a grind trying to balance it all.

School, working at Lululemon and "trying" to exercise and get my body ready to begin "serious" training in January has taken it's toll on my mental and physical well being.

Subsequently November turned out to be more of a "recover from standing so many hours at work" month which is fine. I'm glad to have listened to my body and taken the time needed for it to adapt to these new demands placed upon it.

I'm really looking forward to the Christmas break where I can catch up on some really important reading.



Yeah, I can't wait for the Christmas break! ;)

Had a nice ride on the trainer today at the Y, did some core on the ball then some yoga.

Duration: 1 hr 4 min
Distance: 27 km (est)
AvHR: 132 (67% MHR, zone 2)

Sat + Sunday = mental health days

Maybe it's the fact that there's a blizzard outside or mabye it's the fact the Weather Channel says it's - 35C with the windchill or maybe it's just because of feeling run down with work, school et al. Reguardless of the cause, I elected to take Saturday and today as mental health days! YAY!

What pray tell is a mental health day? Well you need several things.
1) Cheesecake or anything sweet to eat and lots of it!
2) Several movies. In my case, I rented 16 blocks (hated it! LOL), FireWall and Lucky Number Slevin.
3) A clear schedule so you can kick back, relax and rejuvenate.

I took all of yesterday off completely. I did JS except eat cake, drink milk and watch movies.... ALL FRICKING DAY! LOL... it was awesome!

Woke up this morning feeling mentally refreshed although my tummy was a tad "upset" from all the sweets LOL . No matter... I burned off a few calories this morning with a leisurely Sunday brick workout.

25 km bike AvHR: 115 (58% MHR, < zone 1)
3.5 km run AvHR: 124 (63% MHR, zone 1)

I am really looking forward to December. Next Sunday I'm attending the Alberta Triathlon Associations first meeting of the '07 session where I'm on the board of directors as a "Member at Large"; a position I was recently nominated to.

I also have a race this Saturday! 5km Santa Shuffle. Thankfully the forcast is for sun and -4C. I'll still bundle up though!

So when the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful... eat cheesecake!

Looking ahead to 2007

I'm pretty excited about 2007 for several reasons.

First, I complete my Massage Therapy program on Aug 24th.. 2 days before IMC, where I'll volunteering in the Massage tent!!

Second, I start the base phase of my training for Stony Plain on Jan 15th. This "transitional" phase of my year is ok but I'm really looking forward to start some more structured training!

Thrid, and what I'm looking forward to the most: In lieu of achieving my major goal this year of completing a Half Ironman I decided to join an organized Tri Club.

Somehow this past Monday, I managed to get in ahead of the masses and registered for UCTC (Univeristy of Calgary Triathlon Club).

OMG I GOT IN!!!

Major goals for this new UCTC member:
1) Swim technique
2) Swim technique
3) Swim technique
4) Run technique
5) Stay true to my plan and not to be over trained and sick come May.

My mantra for November = Recovery

It's been too long since my last post. Time for an update!

First things first... My October Training totals:

October Total:

Swimming:	4100 meters	- 01:40:00
Biking:	286.19 kilometers	- 11:39:47
Running:	39.09 kilometers	- 04:54:59

November is starting to look like my "recovery month". It seems every time I've been on the bike this month, it's been for a "recovery ride" because my legs are so $%#% sore!!

This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm working part time in retail and I'm not used to being on my feet for hours on end.




Don't get me wrong, I LOVE working at Lululemon! I just didn't fully appreciate how hard standing for a prolonged period of time can be.




For anyone who works retail at the mall, I salute you! Standing is bloody hard work mate! I'll take a 3 hr LSD run anyday vs standing on a cement floor. :)

It's all good though. I'm listening to my body and allowing it to recover properly and adapt to the new demands being placed upon it. I've also cut back my hours at Lulu to give my legs a bit of a break. I was working WAY too much ~ 25 hrs a week and it was killing me.

Work, come home, take a bath go to bed..
wake up.. go to school,
work, come home, take a bath go to bed...
rinse repeat. bleh

I'm now down to ~ 14-16 hrs a week and limiting my shifts to no longer then 4.5 hours so not to stress my legs too much.

So far so good!

Ijust need to start getting some more runs in!

to be continued.....